Transylvania commissioners approve biomass moratorium

Tuesday

Jul 23, 2013 at 7:40 PM

In front of a packed gallery, Transylvania County commissioners voted 3-2 Monday to approve a 12-month moratorium on allowing biomass plants like one proposed for the county airport property in Penrose.

By Nathaniel AxtellTimes-News Staff Writer

In front of a packed gallery, Transylvania County commissioners voted 3-2 Monday to approve a 12-month moratorium on allowing biomass plants like one proposed for the county airport property in Penrose.The moratorium put the brakes on permitting for a 4-megawatt biomass plant planned by New York-based Renewable Developers Inc. while the county examines potential health, safety, environmental and quality of life impacts and perhaps develops new regulations for such facilities.Commissioners Daryle Hogsed and Jason Chappell voted against the moratorium. Hogsed indicated he would've supported an earlier version, but thought new language added at the request of plant opponents was unnecessary. At the suggestion of People for Clean Mountains, the approved moratorium added language preventing county approval of any biomass electricity-generating facility, “any other facility generating biomass-derived energy products,” or “any materials recovery facility.”“What I preferred about the first one was it allowed us to deal with the industry at hand we want answers from, but the second one was worded more broadly and would have a wider impact,” Hogsed said.Echoing the comments of Vice Chairman Larry Chapman, Hogsed said the moratorium isn't intended to kill the Penrose project.“It's intended to give us time to develop a better sense of what the project is meant to do,” he said. “People for Clean Mountains tells us this is a bad proposal, but honestly, we don't have a solid proposal from Renewable Developers. We're not sure exactly what they want to do.”Chappell said he voted against the moratorium because he believes there are already “mechanisms in place” to deal with the proposed Penrose plant at the state and federal level. The Environmental Protection Agency and N.C. environmental regulators require “extensive permitting, and there's not even a completed application on file with either of those agencies,” he said. Chappell also thought the moratorium might set a bad precedent that could hamper future economic development. The moratorium was a victory for People for Clean Mountains, which generated more than 560 signatures on a petition asking commissioners to halt approvals of any biomass facility for 18 months. The group is concerned about air pollution, noise, odors, truck traffic and other potential impacts.Plant developers applied with the N.C. Utilities Commission in February for permission to build a plant that would use up to 100 tons per day of municipal garbage, agricultural waste and wood fiber to generate electricity through a process called “pyrolysis.”Matthew Ross, an attorney for the developers, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But Ross has told county officials that pyrolysis — which heats waste into gas — would create “almost no emissions” because it is a “closed loop” system. The emissions created by electric generators fueled by the gas are “relatively low,” he said.Noise and odor would be controlled by indoors operations, Ross told the county, and truck traffic would be limited to 10-15 trucks per day and only during daylight hours. But People for Clean Mountains cited information from doctors indicating that biomass plants produce air emissions known to increase lung, brain and kidney disease and the risk of cancer and diabetes. They also warned that Transylvania County's tourism-oriented economy could be put at risk by allowing a garbage-fueled power plant.Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.